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The Americans - S2 of the KGB spy drama - Keri Russell & Matthew Rhys - Wed on FX

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M

Mifune

Mehmber
That was a great episode.

Love that Stan told Phil not to tell anyone about the affair and of course one of the next scenes has him telling Elizabeth. But under very different circumstances than what Stan imagined or feared.

All the lies piling on top of lies. I've always liked this show quite a bit - it has a really unique tone and great acting -- but this is the first episode that nailed the le Carre-esque corruption-of-the- soul vibe. More of people just sitting and spinning tales to each other, please.
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
Fantastic episode. Wow. The deceptions are getting so layered that every conversation has more than one meaning. Great writing, great performances, great ending.
 
E

encephalon

Member
I'm going to have to wait until possibly 3 episodes later to have access to itunes again. ; _ ;

I thought it was the strongest episode so far, with great conversations like when Stan tells Phillip that they can't possibly be together because she's married. The one thing that stuck out to me is that the distrust between Claudia and Elizabeth never seems to manifest itself in natural sounding conversations. I'm not sure if it's the direction, the writing, or the chemistry between the two actors but it always makes Elizabeth look unusually flat. Maybe it's just me.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Very good episode this week. I'm pleased that the show has moved away from the CONSTANT TENSION that permeated the first season.

It was also really interesting this week because it was hard to tell which emotions were real and which were fake.
 
Kadayi

Kadayi

Banned
Yeah good episode. Things are definitely going tits up for them. Also amused at Elizabeth wigging out about the religion thing.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Emily Nussbaum with a few thoughts on this season in The New Yorker
This season is an exciting step up: the plots have a stark poetic symmetry, echoing themes without overexplaining them. When another spy couple and their daughter are murdered, and their corpses are found by their son, the Jenningses are forced to confront their own family’s vulnerability. Yet, episodes later, Elizabeth is threatening a father by pronouncing the name of his child. As spies, they are deadly compartmentalizers, yet as parents they are disoriented and outmatched. When their daughter, Paige, begins to keep her own secrets, Philip and Elizabeth are too upset to face their hypocrisy: they’ve raised their kids to be their cover story.

The show’s trickery has an added layer: we’re watching actors give brilliant performances as actors who give brilliant performances. In one of this season’s most fascinating sequences, Elizabeth manipulates a virginal naval cadet to get classified information. At first, it seems to us, her other audience, that she’s unable to pull off the seduction of someone so vulnerable. “I’m really blowing this,” she whispers, tearful, as they embrace—and then she rushes away, trailing excuses. At home, when Philip asks about the case, she says, “Piece of cake.” It turns out that she’s setting a trap for the soldier. She’s playing a woman who was raped, to make her target feel protective, so he’ll steal classified files. There’s a palpable complexity to this, because she’s duped us, too. As the viewer knows, Elizabeth’s rape didn’t make her skittish: if anything, it steeled her as a true believer (having sacrificed so much, she has to believe it’s worth it, unlike Philip, who has considered defecting). And yet, as much as Elizabeth is playing a role—a shy classical-music fan in a pale-pink sweater—she’s also describing her real-life assault, and then playacting a new outcome, in which she is open and fragile, and a man comes to her rescue and comforts her.

This focus on performance makes the show a highly satisfying showcase for its actors, particularly the Welsh actor Rhys, a shape-shifter who snaps with unsettling ease from sad-eyed puppy to sneering enforcer, and the show’s hidden gem, the hypnotically beautiful Annet Mahendru, as Nina. Because the show is on FX, there’s little nudity, but it’s sexier than many pay-cable series, in part because it’s about life as kinky role-play, in part because it suggests such unnerving questions about human intimacy. Even for skillful seducers, there’s a level at which doing is the same as being. To be a great actor, “you’ve got to be honest,” as George Burns once put it. “And if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
Click to expand...
 
C

Cornballer

Member
New episode tonight:
The Deal

Philip and Elizabeth are finally assigned a new handler; Oleg and Arkady continue to argue over how best to handle a situation.
Click to expand...
There's an extra 15 minutes tonight.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
I'm a few minutes behind because of the Psych ending, but who the hell was listening to that phone conversation?

Oh....uh oh.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Man, Elizabeth is just using him and throwing him away. Like a boss! She knows how to close an asset, unlike Philip!
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Another great episode. Philip seems to have to sacrifice so much of his soul for his country. Next week looks good again.
 
V

Verdre

Unconfirmed Member
Another great episode in so many different ways. Oleg's just the kind of character I want to watch get taken down a notch, but that doesn't look to be what's happening. Which probably a good thing, really.
 
R

ReturnOfTheRAT

Member
Tamanon said:
Another great episode. Philip seems to have to sacrifice so much of his soul for his country. Next week looks good again.
Click to expand...

Philip wanting to defect last season wasting wasn't fully earned. This season however the feeling would be understandable. Wiping the Mossad guys ass would put me over the edge, among other things.

Tonights episode was taut and fully captivating. Loved it.
 
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